The Anti-Vaccination Epidemic

Whooping cough, mumps and measles are making an alarming comeback, thanks to seriously misguided parents.

By

Paul A. Offit

Sept. 24, 2014 6:40 pm ET

Almost 8,000 cases of pertussis, better known as whooping cough, have been reported to California's Public Health Department so far this year. More than 250 patients have been hospitalized, nearly all of them infants and young children, and 58 have required intensive care. Why is this preventable respiratory infection making a comeback? In no small part thanks to low vaccination rates, as a story earlier this month in the Hollywood Reporter pointed out.

The conversation about vaccination has changed. In the 1990s, when new...